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{
    "id": 638714,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/638714/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 549,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Ndiema",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1067,
        "legal_name": "Henry Tiole Ndiema",
        "slug": "henry-tiole-ndiema"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for allowing me to contribute to this Bill. The fishing industry is very important for our country and, indeed, globally. If you look at any country that is categorized as developed, fishing occupies a key position. Developed countries like China, Taiwan, Japan, Norway and United States of America (USA) largely depend on fish. The potential for generating wealth and creating employment opportunities for our people is enormous in the fishing industry. It is an industry which has remained unexploited for a long time. It can easily catapult us to the next level of development. This is an area that needs little investment because when you fish, it is like you are merely harvesting fish from the waters. You do not have to invest a lot of resources or use fertilizer and so on like cash crop famers in other areas of this country. All you need to do is to reap. It is the only sector where one reaps without sowing. Nationals from other countries fish from our deep waters. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, internationally, there seems to be a scramble for fishing grounds. This is not the scramble for Africa as we know it from history. If one were to attend conferences on fishing as I did when I served in this sector, you will realise how serious some countries are with fish and fisheries. I attended a conference in Goha in India. It was specifically on Tuna fish. This is a popular species of fish in the world. Many countries sent very strong delegations to the conference. The deliberations were so serious that one would have thought we were in the Berlin Conference trying to partition Africa. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I could clearly see that even the worst enemies globally agreed on fishing grounds and the need to keep away those countries, particularly Africans who are not serious in this sector. They tried as much as possible to put control measures. We all know whales are an endangered species. It is sad that some countries which I would have expected to respect nature are still fishing whales and Tuna. It is a high time that our county played a leading role in this industry. Currently, I am not aware of any fishing vessel that is owned by Kenyans or companies registered in Kenya. Countries like Senegal, Liberia and Cape Verde have taken advantage. We see many finishing activities taking place in our deep waters and yet we are not bothered. They take away our fish. We, as a country, what we gain after licensing them to do fishing in our deep waters, is mere peanuts. We are not reaping enough from our waters. We have not fully exploited our deep sea or ocean waters. There is a lot of fish in our waters. You will be surprised the fish we mainly export from this country comes from Lake Vitoria. This is negligible. Kenya does not even export ten per cent of its fish in Lake Victoria. The talk about Migingo is all about fish. Even as we struggle to get as much fish as possible from Lake Victoria, we should not forget that there are enormous opportunities in the Indian Ocean. The Constitution has assigned responsibilities to various authorities. However, there seems to be a bit of confusion and there is need for clarity or definition. According The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}